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+--- Thread: Greek footwear (/showthread.php?tid=4264)
Re: Greek footwear - Zenodoros - 08-15-2006
"Greek warriors and athletes normally went into action bare-footed. Bare feet allow the useful exercise of the toe muscles and give a good grip."
Is this a plausible reason for going barefoot into battle, just to exercise one's feet?
Re: Greek footwear - Anonymous - 08-15-2006
Quote:"Greek warriors and athletes normally went into action bare-footed. Bare feet allow the useful exercise of the toe muscles and give a good grip."
Is this a plausible reason for going barefoot into battle, just to exercise one's feet?
No. But then, from the context, it is clearly not being offered as one, the writer distancing himself from it in the opening clause and twice more in the subsequent text.
Re: Greek footwear - hoplite14gr - 08-15-2006
Thanks Kurt, this is the "proper" military sandal.
As for barefoot the only recorded case of some fighting barefoot ans naked in bettle is given in Pluterch´s "life of Agesilaos" and the guy was fined foe unecessarily exposing himself to danger!!
The Greek terrain is not very hospitable to bare feet. There is a stark difference going barefoot in your home or a paved city street and quite another trying to negotiate a goat-track!
Kind regards
Re: Greek footwear - Kallimachos - 08-15-2006
Quote:Thanks Kurt, this is the "proper" military sandal.
Glad you see it this way, because I'm having those sandals built.
Re: Greek footwear - hoplite14gr - 12-01-2006
"Horse-shoed" hoplites.
It was used for campaign kothornoi. Use the mails for the coffin of the "barefoot crowd" :twisted: :twisted:
National Archaology Meusum Athens.
Kind regards
Re: Greek footwear - Thersites - 12-02-2006
Quote:Hopllits of the Iberian colonies were aquainted with the spanish straw snadals.
Could you please provide any evidence for that (iconographic or literary?) I'd be most grateful
Cheers
Re: Greek footwear - hoplite14gr - 12-02-2006
Well Fernando I saw a book of ANDREA PRESS about the Spanish troops of Hanibal doing reconstructions with that type of foot ware.
They date them from 650 B.C. The Greek colonies in Spain are dated as early as 700 B.C.
I belive that the Spanish version might be more detailed than the English version.
Hope it Helps.
Kind regards
Re: Greek footwear - Thersites - 12-02-2006
Indeed. But the Andrea book contains a lot of pure guesswork. As far as I know, there is not a bit of hard or incidental evidence of Spanish warriors using 'esparto' (hemp) sandals -although it well could be-, and obviously none about Greek hoplites from Emporion using them. Thanks a lot.
Re: Greek footwear - hoplite14gr - 12-02-2006
Well hoplite-class citizens could afford animal hide items.
I more believe the chance of the poorer citizens to use them if they had encountered them from the Iberians.
Usually most perishable materials can only be speculated about their use.
Kind regards
Re: Greek footwear - Giannis K. Hoplite - 12-13-2006
"Thanks Kurt, this is the "proper" military sandal.
The Greek terrain is not very hospitable to bare feet. There is a stark difference going barefoot in your home or a paved city street and quite another trying to negotiate a goat-track!"
Stefane,what makes you say that this is the proper military sandal?I mean,I've seen it some times in art of late 5th or 4th century,but not so regularly.As for Greek terrain not being very hospitable to bare feet,yes,this is the case for modern Greeks.I cannot imagine myself walking barefoot in the fields,but I do know that my father wore shoes for the first time when he went to the gymnasium(greek term)that was when 12!And I don't think he was the kind of child that would stay at home instead of running in the hard terrain
? when I find how I post images here(not with the URL) I'll post some pictures I have in mind
khaire
Giannis[/img]
Re: Greek footwear - hoplite14gr - 12-13-2006
Giannis you see, I used the term in quotes. The Beotian grave stele in the Lebadeia meuseum depict this sandal.
Many "anaglypha"(carvings) show not only sandals but military boots too.
I can accept barefoot epivate-marines walking on a trirem's planks or perhaps on city walls but there are some razor sharp stones even in the flatest of terrains and I saw quite a few on Platea last September.
You can a upset a tight formation if you accidentaly star hobbing about in unbearable pain!
Second some of the vases have been not properly preserved or pieced together arround 1890s that most were found
Most vase painters could be captives in slavery who did not went in battle.
And Greeks considered asiatic attire as "effeminate" and art tries to show the differeance. Also even today there is a difference in war in reality and war depicted in art.
We conviniently tent to forget that.
Kind regards
Re: Greek footwear - Giannis K. Hoplite - 12-13-2006
Stefane,yes I don't disagree with anything that you said but in some way I still disagree
...Yes,I had that grave stele in mind and by the way did you hear on tv that another such boeotean stele is returned in Greece from the Getti museum!!!I'm mostly based on art for my arguement...see for example the sculptures on temples...when showing civilians they almost all wear shoes.When it comes to soldiers they're barefoot,and not only the heroic nude ones!When sculpted hoplites wear shoes they're so light sandals that the only thing that remains today is the sole(I suppose the strings were bronze or painted...).And I still don't know why you think being barefoot even in hard terrrain is not possible,the same time that even today in some places people spend their whole life barefoot.We also know that when they wanted to walk far distances they took off their sandals not to destroy the leather soles(that would be on clean roads though and not in the fields)After all humans were built to walk barefoot and not only in paved roads!
Other types of shoes were introduces after or during the Peloponnesian War when,as we all know,war changed dramatically in Greece.
Today we see scenes of war that may be inaccurate but most of us have not been in war.This was not the case in the ancient city-state,right?
Khairete
Giannis
P.S.I'm not sure about what I said about taking off their shoes when walking far distances.I think I've read it in the interpretation of a sculpture where the person has the sandals hunging one from each side of the neck.Unfortunately I can't remember more...
Re: Greek footwear - hoplite14gr - 12-14-2006
There pottery images depicted hunting/travelling footgear in this thread.
Also Saharan bedouins though capable of walking barefoot on hot sands, are being described by Rene Kayete (hope I spell it right)in aquiring footwere in fisrt opporunity in 1850. A time of tougher poeple that time,who also had the luxury of avoiding razorsharp rocks and thorns!
Kind regards
Re: Greek footwear - Tarbicus - 12-14-2006
Quote:After all humans were built to walk barefoot and not only in paved roads!It's a good point, no matter how you look at it.
Re: Greek footwear - Kallimachos - 12-30-2006
Got my shoes by now.
The Original from the statue and my new ones.